


charlie and meeks go to a party at the anderperry household, needless to say, it's chaotic

by yellowbeesknees



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: Future AU, Grown up AU, M/M, Modern AU, Neil Perry (Dead Poets Society) Lives, anderperry, charlie wears a beret to all occasions, mild anderperry, neil and todd aren't very good hosts, omg there was fucking only one fucking bed holy shit i am losing my mind, pitts is a disaster, they shouldn't be allowed to leave the house, they went to a party and it was suitably awful, you're just lucky he left his sunglasses at home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:07:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24399253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowbeesknees/pseuds/yellowbeesknees
Summary: Todd and Neil can be relied upon for awful parties which normally end in Todd forcing everyone to leave when they've got too drunk and broken something. This time, due to the divine intervention of Meeks, it's not Charlie who ruins the night for everyone and instead it's Pitts (who Charlie has always believed to be too tall for his own good and therefore clumsy). Charlie and Meeks manage to hide on the balcony instead of being herded out by Neil and Todd but beg to stay the night.
Relationships: Charlie Dalton/Steven Meeks, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Todd Anderson/Neil Perry
Comments: 6
Kudos: 51





	charlie and meeks go to a party at the anderperry household, needless to say, it's chaotic

**Author's Note:**

> i've been reading a lot of jane austen at the moment and i think her style has bled a little into my own so sorry if it sounds like it's dialogue from the 1800's.

At Neil and Todd’s new apartment parties could be depended on. Not that they were necessarily good parties, or could really be qualified as parties in someone like Charlie’s eyes, but they could definitely be depended on. They were more friends and some other people Charlie didn’t know and didn’t care to know having a drink and making stupid decisions before being kicked out by Todd making one such stupid decision (but in his case, the stupid decision was always kicking them out and he was often sober). 

This night, however, he had restrained himself from kicking them all out (yet) and Charlie was thoroughly enjoying himself. The drink was good, the music decent whenever Neil let Todd take control (Neil had awful music taste), and the little finger foods which had been strategically deployed in the dying state of the ‘party’ (if it had ever been known as such) were perfect to distract his hands from doing something stupid like throwing a glass at the wall and forcing Todd’s hand to point towards the door. Still, Neil and Todd couldn’t be trusted to do everything right, Charlie could have sworn blind, even in his half-hazy state, that he had seen a plate of cucumber sandwiches and he was quite certain they didn’t belong at a party, even if this didn’t strictly qualify. He looked at a rather tantalising glass on the edge of the table that (with one good swipe) could be pushed to the ground. Someone reached out a finger and pushed it away from the cliff edge.

“Do not give Todd a reason to throw us out, I don’t fancy going home in the rain,” sighed Meeks, predicting his move before he made it, he seemed to catch Charlie’s confused expression, “Char, you’ve been staring at the glasses around the room and contemplating throwing them at a wall for at least ten minutes, you can’t fool me.”

He elected to ignore that. “It’s raining?”

“Yes, it’s raining.”

Charlie mused that fact for a moment. “It hasn’t rained in a while.” He watched with interest as Pitts almost tripped over the coffee table, caught his balance, stepped back to regain it, then stepped forwards to the exact same point he had just almost tripped, genuinely tripped, and knocked over the glass Meeks had moved away from the edge. “Do you think he understands what trial and error means?”

“Madness is trying the same thing again and again and expecting a different result.”

He snorted, lifting another Pringle to his mouth. “It hasn’t rained in a while,” he repeated. shifting his foot underneath Pitts who was definitely conscious but deciding not to move out of sheer laziness, Todd still hadn’t noticed the glass.

“No, I know Char, I have also been alive in this plane of existence and logged the weather as ‘not rain’ for quite some time.” He took a long sip from his drink and kicked Pitts in the shin, not receiving much except a low groan in response.

“Stop being so sarcastic Meeks. Did you see they had cucumber sandwiches or was that a figment of my imagination?” He ate another Pringle and moved his feet uncomfortably again, wishing that Pitts would just get up.

“Do you want a cucumber sandwich?” he replied in a satisfying mixture of disgust and scandal.

He snorted. “Pitts, get up. No, I thought I’d mention it, just in case the trend of having cucumber sandwiches at parties could have sprung up on me out of the blue.” He ate another Pringle, Pitts got to his feet with a belaboured groan. He stole a Pringle from the bowl, much to Charlie’s chagrin and disappeared, leaving them with the smashed glass. “We should move.”

Meeks regarded the shattered fragments and nodded. “Yes, maybe we can hide until Todd has kicked out everyone but us and then make our case to Neil and beg him to stay.”

“Did you say it was raining?”

“Yes, not for the first time in a while apparently,” said Meeks sarcastically, taking another sip.

He stood up, still cradling his Pringles. “Lets go out on the balcony.”

A slow blink was the only reply he was deigned.

“What?”

“Charlie, I said it was raining and your first instinct is to go outside?”

He grinned at that and shrugged. “Well then, they’ll never look outside will they, because it’s raining.”

“No, they know you, they know you’re stupid enough to go out on the balcony when it’s raining.” Meeks still followed him through the slow moving groups of people, which could not be qualified as ‘crowds’ or ‘pulsating, dancing party goers’ but definitely could have been described as ‘sluggish, slow moving non-party goers’. “Take off that beret before we go out, it’ll get soaked.”

“It’s only drizzle, and I don’t want my hair to get wet.” He ate another Pringle then frowned at the meagre amount left.

He rolled his eyes. “Right, yes, I forgot the beret’s remarkable waterproof function.”

Charlie swatted at him. “People in the army use drizzle to mould their berets.”

“Are you in the army?”

He slid open the balcony door, noticing that Todd (and therefore Neil) had been distracted by Pitts’s latest destruction (not the glass yet, though that was bound to push them over the edge when discovered). “Just be glad I forgot my sunglasses too, I don’t think you could take me wearing sunglasses in the rain without fainting.”

“I wouldn’t faint.”

“You would most definitely faint. No, no you’re right, you would swoon not faint.” Charlie shut the door behind Meeks and they hid themselves behind the curtains, sitting on the only moderately damp garden furniture, the balcony being mostly sheltered by the glass wall and balcony above, and truly, it was only drizzle.

He sighed, giving up on the argument and finishing his drink. “Whatever you say Char.”

“So you would swoon for me?”

Meeks turned his head to look at Charlie, at his red painted cheeks, the sharp patterns of earlier in the evening smudged a little, at the jaunty beret and glittering eyes. “Sure, if you like.”

He turned away from Meeks to look out over the golden, silver, glowing city. “If you like.”

They passed a few moments in amiable silence punctuated by giggles as they heard Neil find the broken glass, even through the door his yell of ‘Charlie!’ could be heard, only to be quickly transformed to a shout of ‘Pitts!’ as an eye witness told him the truth of the matter. The curtains concealed much of the inside but they could only imagine from previous experience Todd’s quiet dismissal with one hand pointed firmly in the direction of the front hall and the door at its end. Some things never changed. Still fancying they might want to wait a while longer before approaching their hosts about staying the night, Meeks turned companionably to Charlie.

“So Char, how’s the night been?”

“Before I saw the cucumber sandwiches I was having a grand time.” He paused for a moment, still staring out over the city. “And then you showed up and I was having a good time again,” he amended, eating his last Pringle and disregarding the bowl on the table.

Meeks exhaled a huff of laughter into his glass, swigging the now mostly melted ice cubes. “That’s very nice of you Charlie.”

“How long should we wait until Todd calms down?”

He shrugged. “At least wait until they realise our shoes and coats are still in the hall.”

“What if they just start fucking and don’t realise we’re out here on the balcony?”

He paused, giving it due consideration. “Nah, Todd will want to clean everything first before they think about fucking.”

Charlie drummed his fingers on the glass topped table. “You’re taking the sofa.”

“I’m absolutely not taking the sofa,” he exclaimed, glaring at Charlie, “why don’t you take the sofa?”

“Because I’m Charlie Dalton?”

“That means nothing,” he said flatly, glaring at Charlie through the half darkness.

“It absolutely means something.” He scowled back, though his face was more thrown in shadow than Meeks’s so he doubted it had any particular effect. After silent deliberation, he sighed, glancing behind them into the flat. “We can share, it’s a big bed.”

“It’s not that big.”

“Big enough for two.”

Meeks stared long and hard at him, and Charlie hoped that his smirk could be made out in the dusky light. “Alright Dalton.”

Equipped with big, weary, pleading eyes and excellent arguing points, Charlie and Meeks re-entered the flat, to see the other two kissing by the sink, Neil with soapy robber gloves that he was holding away from Todd’s body. They exchanged grins before approaching, Charlie focussing all his attention on Neil, who had been folding to that look of utter begging for over a decade, and Meeks the desperate conclusions that the weather was far too bad for them to go home in, and far too late to trust any cab driver. The other two broke apart and stared at them with rolling eyes, sighs, groans, a request to help out with cleaning the flat a little before bed, and eventual agreement to letting Charlie and Meeks stay the night.

‘Cleaning up’ turned out to mean gingerly putting pieces of smashed glass in the bin, sweeping the hall of any mud, and wiping up spilled drink while the other two washed and dried plates and bowls and threw uneaten cucumber sandwiches in the bin after offering them several times to the scandalised Charlie and Meeks.

Eventually they were told they were allowed to sleep as Todd and Neil went in to their own room, followed by innuendo winks from Charlie.

The guest room was, thankfully for their ears, on the other side of the apartment and had its own (though miniscule) en suite. The bed was by no means large and the realisation that they had nothing comfortable to sleep in came second. Not wanting to risk walking in on Todd and Neil, they took off their clothes, careful to avert their eyes except for the occasional appreciative glance that only awkwardly met once. Charlie unbuttoned his shirt and slipped out of his jeans (and took of the beret) as confidently as he felt able and went into the en suite to use the toilet and use the mouth wash helpfully supplied by their hosts.

By the time both were ready for bed, Charlie was entirely awake again and he could tell be the annoyed look on Meeks’s that he was too, so he didn’t reach to turn off the bedside lamp, instead turning to face Meeks and regard his side profile for a moment, before the other turned his head to look at him. He was still wearing his glasses, obviously sensing they wouldn’t be sleeping for a little while longer and Charlie did not miss the way those eyes glided down his face.

Charlie couldn’t help but smirk. “You alright Meeks? You seem a little distracted.”

The eyes flicked back up to his, the culprits own lips parting slightly then snapping shut with a scowl. “Be quiet Char, I’m thinking.” His blush betrayed him.

“What about?” he asked in a low voice, eyes boring into Meeks’s.

“Nothing in particular.”

“Well I’m quite offended at having it described as ‘nothing in particular’.” His smirk broadened.

Meeks’s glare deepened. “If you knew of what I was thinking, why ask?”

“To annoy and fluster you, it is my life’s work to make you swoon Steven.” He moved his hand a little so it lay between them.

“Steven? That’s new.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Good new?”

“I could get used to it.” Meeks’s hand twitched a little, as if suppressed from reaching out beneath the sheets.

He let the silence fill between them for a moment before adopting a husky whisper. “I’m in the mood for trying new things tonight.”

Meeks laughed, shaking his head. “Stop it with the deep voice already, your voice is quite lovely how it is Char.”

“You think so?”

He pouted in thought. “Yes. Yes, I believe so.”

“As I said, trying out new things… like new voices.”

He snorted, his hand involuntarily reaching out to touch Charlie’s. “Stop being such a fucking dumbass.” Charlie took the opportunity and grabbed his fingers softly in his own. Meeks glanced down at their hands for a moment, at where Charlie was running the pad of his thumb along Meeks’s knuckles. Then he looked back up at Charlie and shifted a little closer, his head creeping to the divide between the two pillows. “Char?”

“Yes.”

“Is it alright if I kiss you?”

A slow smile slipped gradually onto his face and he couldn’t stop his eyes falling to Meeks’s mouth. “I never thought you’d be brave enough to ask me that.” He paused, taking in the whole of the face that lay in front of him. “Yes, yes but only if you’re sure Meeks.”

He leaned up on one elbow and kissed Charlie, pushing him back into the pillows. When he pulled back a little he mumbled against his lips. “Yes I’m sure.” Then he kissed him again and Charlie’s fingers wound in his hair, his thumbs smoothed up Meeks’s cheeks, rising up a little as Meeks pulled away again, desperate to keep the contact. “Charlie, Charlie you have no idea how long I’ve been itching to do that.”

“You better do it again then, we’ve already skipped the undressing stage.”

Meeks grinned. “Just shut up Char. I’m trying to make this sentimental.”

“Make me.”

“D’you want to know what I was thinking about?”

“Show me.”

He placed his knee between Charlie’s legs and smirked. “Char, you’re going to have to let me borrow your book on flirting after this.”

“You won’t need it,” said Charlie, smiling up at him, “not if you carry on this way because if so we won’t be seeing each other ever again. Kiss me again.”

“Yessir, Jesus!”

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed :)  
> you can find me on tumblr & instagram at fivecenturiesverse  
> and i have a wattpad yellowbeesknees for other fanfiction stuff :))
> 
> also what charlie/meeks doesn't end with a "yessir"


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